By Your Side
by Pound
Summary: **END OF TIME SPOILERS** An alternate fix-up to the End of Time to which Donna has swapped with Wilf in the radiation containment device and it goes from just after Ten has raged about defeating the Time Lords and sending them back being his reward and deciding to try and free Wilf/Donna. WARNING: Ten/Donna romance


"Don't! Please don't!"

"Doctor! Please don't! PLEASE DON'T!"

He ignored her protests, continuing towards the double doors his feet dragging across the floor as he did. His hand rested on the handle of the door staring at it for what seemed hours before he gave her a dreaded look which almost ripped her heart out of her chest.

"I am so glad to have met you." he said softly before taking a deep breath.

"Don't you dare, Doctor!" she argued, pointing her finger at him.

"Better be quick!" and with that he swiftly opened the door and closed it.

Donna went to reach for the glass that separated them but the sound of her door rattling distracted her.

"NO!"

"Donna! OUT NOW!" he snapped at her, fire in his eyes as he gave her a hard look slamming hard on the seemingly mocking yellow release button.

Surprisingly, Donna found herself rushing out to rush to his door as it screeched noisily at the Doctor. He was screaming in pain and arched as the radiation poisoning took a hold of him. Tears streamed down her face as she desperately tried to open the door that was between them but found it useless. Donna sunk to her knees barely noticing that he was now slowly going down, as she cradled her head in her hands leaning against the door.

The Doctor was now barely in a crouch, one hand braced on the glass beside him and the other holding his weight on the console. He looked at her sobbing uncontrollably, and saw how this was now tearing her apart, and reached out with his hand placing against the glass door.

Donna glanced up and noted his hand only several inches away from her. Carefully, she mirrored hers to his along the glass before looking at his pained face. She could still hear him trying to contain his pain as he tried to absorb the radiation yet he managed to give a sloppy smile before he grimaced in pain and fell to the ground, his hand sliding down with him.

She let herself almost follow him, her hand still against the glass where his now limply reached out and with the other stroked the glass near his head as if she was cradling him in her hands. His other hand clutched at his head as it painfully killed him; she could almost hear the beat of his hearts slowing down. Then suddenly his block went from red to nothing as the system failed and shut down. Donna looked up and found it smoking, the lights now longer were lit yet the door on her end refused to budge even as she tried.

Glancing back down she could still see him breathing, his body moving up and down as his respiratory bypass system kicked in. He still had the same hair and the long spiny fingers that were wrapped around his skull still bore the scars he had received which meant he had not regenerated just yet. His hand then moved carefully from his skull and to Donna's relief began to pull himself up to his knees, facing her.

"Ello..." she said with a small smile.

"Ello..." he returned, a wide but pained smile appearing across his face.

Slowly, he moved himself to his feet, and vaguely gestured to the console.

"System's dead. I absorbed it all. Whole things caput." He gestured wildly at the now failed equipment.

Donna stood back from the door, allowing him to place hand on the glass to open it.

"Oh...now it opens." he rolled his eyes sarcastically as he opened it wide so he could stagger out.

Donna watched him cautiously as he stood only a mere metre away from her, scars riddling his face and hands.

"You're a mess!" she commented nodding her head at him.

He took a deep breath and brought his hands to his face trying to alleviate the pain. Donna watched surprised as the scars slowly disappeared, almost as if they had never been there in the first place. He brought his hands down and noted her shocked face as she stared at him in disbelief.

"Doctor...your...your face...the scars...they've gone." The Doctor frowned at her for a moment before glancing at the back of his hands. True enough for his own eyes, the scars that had been paining him since he had crash-landed were now gone and then it dawned on him. He looked up at Donna and could almost see that she now too understood what was happening.

"It's starting, isn't it?" The Doctor nodded sadly without comment and sighed heavily.

Donna, just as she had done when she had seen him on Midnight, walked up to him and wrapped her arms around his neck. Unconsciously, the Doctor wrapped his arms around her back, pulling her tightly to him as they hugged. Donna leant her ear against his chest listening to the change of beat in his hearts as the process slowly began.

"It's not fair..." she murmured and tightened her grip around his neck.

"I know..." he replied simply, resting his cheek on her head in comfort. Then her hands slid into his hair and gently tugged his head back so she was now nose to nose with him.

"I don't want you to go." She said solemnly, feeling tears brimming in her eyes. He brought a hand between them and carefully brushed the tears away with a grim smile.

"I know. But I have to." He replied softly, closing his eyes and taking a deep breath as a wave of pain washed over him.

He refused to let himself regenerate in front of her again and he couldn't bare to see her upset at losing him. He had to find a way to get her away from him before he lost control of the energy he was so desperately holding back. But before he could even say his goodbye to her, he found himself in a lip lock with her and felt a surge of regeneration energy surround them.

Surprised he tried to pull back but she stubbornly kept a hold of him even when he felt her wince against him as the energy ebbed around them both. The energy ebbed and glowed brighter and he could feel the energy being transferred between them. The extra regeneration energy that she had kept safe and that the Doctor had locked away released itself to transfer into him via the kiss.

He could feel the energy entering his system, kick-starting his hearts which seemingly forced him to his knees, breaking the kiss as they both went down. His hearts changed from a slow dying rhythm to the regular 10bpms. He could his breath returning not from receiving the extra energy or the kiss even though it was nice but the effort he had exerted to keep the regeneration at bay.

He realised with almost slight selfish happiness that the energy had been enough to destroy the radiation and heal his body enough to use all the energy that would've been used to cause him to regenerate.

_He would still be Donna's skinny streak of nothing...speaking of Donna_ he thought.

He could vaguely hear Donna talking to him and realised he had closed his eyes involuntarily. Opening them he found Donna looking quite pale and worried as she patted him with one hand pressed to his forehead. He gave her a broad smile before she punched him hard in the arm.

"OW!" he yelped before she grinned at him wolfishly. The smile then faded as her eyes fluttered and she fell forward into him. He gathered his senses quickly to catch her and hold her against him even as she struggled to keep awake.

It had seemed that she had over-exerted herself and was barely hanging onto consciousness. She looked up at him despite being happily snuggled against him with a smile.

"Nice to see you, Martin-boy." She managed a laugh before her eyes fluttered closed, a smile caught on her lips.

"Good to see you too, Earth-girl." He replied wrapping his arms around her and picking her up, taking her in the direction he had last placed the TARDIS.

A/N: Wow, almost 3 years since I have posted a fic. I'm sorry to all those who have tried to urge me onto fic-writing that I haven't been active at all. So here is a little present to you all even if you do not like the D/D pairing, it's not perfect and I do admit there may be a few mistakes to which I apologise in advance for which I may have missed.


End file.
